They found their dragons in the cell caverns across the island from where Astrid had been held, right where Hiccup had said they would be. Luckily for them, Exellinor had almost every warrior out searching the Archipelago for possible locations of the dragon jewel, so the Outcast forces were spread thin. Even if Hiccup did have a few of them on his side, they were Outcasts. They had gotten there from lying and stealing, among a few other lesser things, as well as murder and betrayal.
"No offense," Astrid said when she recounted this to Hiccup, who just chuckled, shoulders shaking with mirth as they ran for Toothless and Stormfly. She felt herself flush when she remembered her declaration of love in her cell, and the laughter that had gotten her from Heather and the prison guards. She remembered the chill that had thrummed through her body when Heather tried to use her charm speak on her. It was true that she had thought about those things the other girl had suggested, but the way his fingers tightened around her hand as they sprinted through a wild dragon nest said otherwise. She didn't need to worry about that kind of thing anymore, because he was here, sane and next to her, and that was all that mattered.
If Astrid didn't have so much loyalty toward her clan and the Archipelago, she could probably have run away with him and never looked back.
He split off from her as they entered the dragon cells like she'd been shown months ago, saying something about a lever that would cause the whole place to go berserk. She continued on her way down the winding corridors, calling for Stormfly. No sooner had she turned the corner than a Whispering Death came barreling down the corridor, hissing before it dove underground. Out the corner of her eye, she saw a Changewing appear on the wall, beady black eyes studying her before it decided she wasn't much of threat and scurried away.
So that had been his idea.
"Hiccup, you're a genius," she said to herself, getting a run up before she forward flipped over a Gronckle with a bad attitude, landing on the other side and continuing her run down the corridor. Releasing the wild dragons would send the remaining Outcast guards into mayhem. It was a prison break like nothing she'd ever seen. He rejoined her down on the bottom level after he took care of a couple of guards up there, his face splattered with blood which told her things she didn't even want to know.
Toothless and Stormfly were the ones that found them. Hiccup was nearly tackled to the ground by an overjoyed Night Fury while Stormfly stopped just short of her rider to let Astrid run forward and wrap her arms around her neck, pressing her face against her scales as Stormfly cooed down at her as if to say "What were you so worried about? Silly girl, I knew you'd find me", nuzzling the top of her head and wrapping her long neck around her shoulders.
"We have to get out of here." Hiccup's voice broke her out of her reverie and she pulled back from Stormfly to look over to him, noticing he was already on Toothless's back. For some reason the Outcasts had left the saddles and Toothless's prosthetic on them - maybe they'd put up too much of a fight for them to be taken off properly. Whatever the reason, they could escape without having to double back for anything. "There's no telling what Grandmother will do now that we've escaped."
With a nod in agreement, Astrid climbed onto Stormfly's back and the two dragons took off like a shot down the corridor, Stormfly's gait making it easy for them to keep up with Hiccup and Toothless's four-legged run. They startled a pair of guards just at the entrance, but before they could react they were already in the air and out of firing range.
Once they were clear of Outcast Island, further down the ocean than their boats could follow after them in mere seconds, Astrid let out a relieved sounding laugh before she gave a whoop, causing Hiccup to look at her in puzzlement. She collapsed forward onto Stormfly's neck, earning a croon of concern from her dragon as she flew along, wings beating every now and then. They flew straight for about an hour or two before Hiccup caused them to swerve off to the right by angling Toothless, a small island in their sights.
They landed on the shores of a land that was probably roughly the size of the Hooligan village, both vikings sliding off their mounts. It was Astrid who closed the distance, looking like she wanted to throw her arms around his neck and kiss him, but instead she reached forward and took hold of his hand, threading their fingers, squeezing them so tight that the grip might've broken a lesser viking's bone. "I missed you," she confessed, feeling her cheeks heat up as she glanced out the corner of her eye towards the foilage.
Hiccup gave her an apologetic smile, probably one of the only genuine ones she'd ever won from him, returning the squeeze but without as much force as Astrid's before his brow furrowed together. "What were you thinking, coming to Outcast Island?"
"Gothi said it was time for me to go find you," she said, reaching up to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear as they started walking further up the shoreline, towards the jungle area. The island was so small it probably wasn't on any viking maps, and the thought sent a small chill of delight down her spine. "I've been training with her to combat Heather and Excellinor's teas and herbs...so I wouldn't be as stupid as to let my guard down like I did months ago."
Watching her face flush in shame, Hiccup reached to cup her face with his free hand, giving a small sigh. "I could only briefly send correspondence to the other chiefs to let them know how the plans for the kingdom were coming along without raising suspicion. The night after you and the others left, Heather came into my room." His nose screwed up and she gathered that had been bad...well, of course, anything to do with Heather was bad. "If I hadn't taken Gothi's warnings seriously, she probably would've succeeded in messing with my head."
They stopped walking once they were past the line of trees littering the beginning of the beach and Astrid reached up to brush her fingers over the scarred, sewn shut eyelids of his left eye. "She told me...what made you think you had to give her an eyeball as a price for her knowledge?"
It was his turn to look sheepish. "Grandmother always made people pay with body parts, either their own or someone else's. It was already damaged so it wasn't like I was loosing much." He shrugged. "It would've just been sitting there being useless."
"And somehow the fact that it's sitting there in a jar of old mead being useless makes it better?" She raised an eyebrow as she dropped her hand, placing it on her hip. At his lack of a response, she took the moment to wrap her arms around his neck, brushing their lips together in the briefest of motions before she kissed him fully. He let his hands drop to her waist, tugging her as close as possible as he returned it, tongue sweeping across her bottom lip before he drew it between his teeth, overbite nipping at the flesh.
The storm clouds they had passed on their way to the island started rumbling overhead and he broke the kiss, looking up as the first droplets of rain started sprinkling down, turning his attention back to her with a bit of a dorky smile. "Perhaps we should find shelter."
Astrid was about to protest before she felt a droplet of water hit the back of her neck and she scowled up at the sky, pulling her arms away to unclasp her shawl from around her shoulders, hoisting it up over her head. Stormfly, however, didn't seem to think that was necessary and cawed at her rider, opening her wing to fan it out over her head. "Thanks, Stormfly." She looked back at Hiccup, inclining her head. "After you, my King."
"Queens before Kings." He made a sweeping gesture with his arm as he tucked the other behind his back. She rolled her eyes at him, giving him a playful shove before taking his hand again, the two of them proceeding to walk through the forest, Stormfly and Toothless providing shelter with their wings as they walked.
As the island was small, it wasn't long before they found a cave in the hillside and, upon making sure that there wasn't any dragons or anything inhabiting it, the duo trudged in as deep as it would allow them, their dragons falling slightly behind. Astrid dangled her fur shawl between her fingers, getting Stormfly to make a fire with fallen sticks they'd picked up along the way. With the rain pouring down outside, the dragons sat near the neck of the cave, keeping an eye out as their humans sat close together near the fire.
Hiccup took off his chainmail, setting it to the side with a clunk and proceeding to remove his shirt since it had gotten a little wet despite Toothless's attempt to keep him dry. Astrid couldn't help but find herself watching as he shook his shaggy hair out, brushing his fingers through the wet bits at the front before he sat down on the cave floor with a fwump, leaning back on his hands languidly. She'd taken her shawl off and he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "You'll catch your death if you stand around in wet clothes, Astrid."
Her cheeks flushed pink at the suggestion before she gave a small sigh. He was probably right. Besides, it wasn't like there was anyone else but him and their dragons. Without much ceremony, she unclasped her shoulder guards before she wrapped her fingers under her shirt, pulling it off and over her head. She watched the look of disappointment cross his face when it showed that she'd wrapped her breasts, looking at him with a small smirk as she sat down next to him. "What? You were expecting something different?" Hiccup gave a small grumble along the lines of 'guess not', as she reached to take hold of one of his hands again, tenderly threading their fingers together as he looked at her with a bit of shock. "Well, I never said you couldn't."
"This isn't exactly conventional or traditional, Astrid," he quipped as she drew his fingers towards her side, cupping her hand over his as she placed his weapon calloused palm over the middle of her waist.
"We're not exactly a conventional or traditional couple, Hiccup," she murmured back, shifting herself closer, enough for their breath to intermingle. "Besides, I missed you." He made a face as though she was right about that, and he tilted his head down to kiss her, fingers slipping over her waist to find the clasp to her bindings as the wind and rain howled outside, masking any noise that was bound to come from the depths of the cave and shield their little island from the outside world.
Author's notes: muahahaha I'm mean :3 I mean I could've been even meaner and left it there for good, but there's still loads of unfinished business, so I won't. There's...maybe five, maybe ten more chapters to go (I hope), and once again I'd like to thank you all for reading and reviewing and faving and watching. I can't believe this thing's hit 300 reviews /ollies out into the sun